Saturday, August 25, 2012

illustration friday (tall)

This etegami was inspired by The Tuft of Flowers, an early poem by Robert Frost. Like so many of my favorite Frost poems, it speaks of loneliness. But the second half of the poem refutes that loneliness, as the speaker (whose task is to toss the mowed grass) finds comfort in evidence of shared sensibilities and values with someone (the mower) who has left the scene. It is a long poem, so I'll just paste the second half here:

Love the piece-- I'm a fan of butterfly weed as well as Frost, though I don't actually remember encountering this poem. How apt it is to the way we artists connect, despite working alone in our studios, by way of shared interests discovered via internet! I wonder what Frost would have made of that. :-}

My first reaction was "this is just how it is for translators!" But, you're right, Artists, Writers, and many other people work in isolation, and it's comforting to recognize that we're working alongside others whether we can see them or not.

A Beginner's Guide to Etegami

what is etegami?

Etegami (e= "picture"; tegami= "letter/message") are simple drawings accompanied by a few apt words. They are usually done on postcards so that they can be easily mailed off to one's friends. Though etegami has few hard-and-fast rules, traditional tools and materials include writing brushes, sumi ink, blocks of water-soluble, mineral-based pigments called gansai, and washi postcards that have varying degrees of "bleed." They often depict some ordinary item from everyday life, especially items that bring a particular season to mind.